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BOXING; De La Hoya Escapes, Head and Title Intact

An hour after his split-decision victory over Ike Quartey, Oscar De La Hoya held a small frozen cup over a lump the size and color of a small tomato under his left eye. The knot was there thanks to the steady pounding of Quartey's jab over 12 rounds. But the pain will soon subside, and it is not a scar he will carry forever.

Quartey wasn't as battered as De La Hoya, who kept his World Boxing Council welterweight title, but he will be hurting for a while. He will probably spend the rest of his career kicking himself for losing a fight that he could have easily won.

Thanks to his jab, Quartey was able to take most of the early rounds of the fight and keep De La Hoya off balance. But after the sixth round, what little offense Quartey managed in the early rounds completely disappeared. And then in the 12th round, De La Hoya came out and battered Quartey, dropping him for the second time in the fight and securing a split decision over Quartey, the former World Boxing Association welterweight champion.

''He didn't do anything,'' Quartey said. ''I did everything. He came to survive. That's what he did. He knew if he survived for 12 rounds, he'd win the decision.''

Quartey's bitterness was tempered by his promoter, Dino Duva of Main Events, who had watched another of his fighters, Pernell Whitaker, surrender his title to De La Hoya two years ago in a much closer fight. Duva said he believes that both Quartey and Whitaker won their fights.

''Ike Quartey came into a hostile territory and fought a war against your man,'' Duva said to a derisive mob of De La Hoya fans who shouted down Quartey, a native of Accra, Ghana, for not being gracious in defeat. ''Give him the credit he deserves.''

Quartey's belief that he had won the fight was shared by only one judge, Larry O'Connell of Hartley, England, who scored the fight 115-114 for Quartey. The judge Ken Morita of Sapporo, Japan, had it 116-112 and the judge John Keane of Northants, England, scored it 116-113, both for De La Hoya. All three judges had De La Hoya winning the last three rounds.

For the 26-year-old De La Hoya, who earned $9 million for the bout, it was a resounding victory that certifies him as the top welterweight in a talented and crowded field. He now has victories over two previous welterweight world champions, Whitaker and Quartey. Whitaker will fight Felix Trinidad next Saturday at Madison Square Garden in another major welterweight battle.

''I kept my title,'' De La Hoya said. ''I proved to the world that I could go against the best.''

But it was a struggle for De La Hoya, who said that he made a tactical error and may have given the hard-hitting Quartey too much respect.

''I was too wide open when I unleashed the punches,'' De La Hoya said. ''The times I did drop him I threw the 4-5, which is that uppercut and left hook. I made it a tactical fight, which I wasn't supposed to do. I did that tonight, and I did it against Pernell Whitaker. My style is being aggressive. I'm finding out I've been giving too much respect to my opponents. I have to be more aggressive. That's a learning process. I just have to go to the gym and work on some things.''

Gil Clancy, De La Hoya's co-trainer, said they had developed a strategy that called for De La Hoya to move laterally and give Quartey different angles, making it difficult for him to throw punches that would land. ''He spent the whole fight fighting Quartey's fight, staying in front of him, feinting and not throwing his jab,'' Clancy said.

The two times that De La Hoya was aggressive, he scored against Quartey. In the sixth round he tagged Quartey with a left hook and floored him. A short time later in the round, Quartey caught De La Hoya on the chin and dropped him.

There were conflicting messages from De La Hoya's corner heading into the 12th round. Roberto Alcazar, his chief trainer, told De La Hoya that he was winning the fight and not to do anything to throw the fight away. Clancy told De La Hoya that he needed to win the 12th round and that he needed to throw combinations.

''I never believe a fighter has the fight won,'' Clancy said. ''I always tell a fighter to go out and win the 12th round.''

De La Hoya went out and threw 69 punches in the first two minutes of the round, landing 41 and decking Quartey with a left hook. But he punched himself out and didn't throw anything over the last minute. Quartey, who faded badly, didn't have anything left either. The result was that De La Hoya put on the performance of a champion for the first time since he won the title from Whitaker in 1997.

''I had to go out with a bang to show my courage and prove that I could fight, to keep my title and get a good devastating win,'' De La Hoya said.

De La Hoya said he was going to take some time off and decide who his next opponent would be. On the undercard, Oba Carr won a 12-round unanimous decision over Frankie Randall, potentially setting up a meeting with De La Hoya in May.